They got their decoys set out, settled into the blind and were waiting for legal shooting time when they saw a headlamp coming from the other side of the lake. It was a single hunter. They flashed a light at him to let him know they were there. The stranger walked up and said, "hey, y'all are in my blind" to which Justin responds "well, you did a good job but we're making it a little bigger". Justin tells the stranger he's welcome to hunt with them and he walks right into the blind and assumes his position....didn't introduce himself or anything. It was an awkward moment so Justin and Chad kept expanding the blind so it would accommodate 4 hunters.
Finally Justin introduces himself to the stranger and finds out his name is Phil. They begin talking in the blind waiting for legal shooting time and Phil proceeds to tell the fellas that he set up the blind and threw out decoys at midnight and was going to come out and and see if he could shoot a few ducks. Justin informs him that it probably isn't a good idea to leave any of your stuff out on that particular piece of property as the county has issued over 125 permits...decoys have a way of sprouting legs and walking away. Phil wasn't too worried.
Justin had already thrown out their decoy spread....typical pattern...wind at back...mojo flying into the wind...decoys to the left...decoys to the right...motion buoys in each spread ...big hole in the middle so the ducks would land right in front of the blind. Then it dawns on Justin that Phil had thrown out his decoys but Justin didn't recall seeing any when he was throwing out his so Justin asks, "so Phil, where exactly did you thrown out your decoys?" Phil responds, "over there on the other side of the pond."
Now this is not a large body of water they are hunting, but it's a good 75-100 yards from where the blind is to the other side of the pond. Chad flashes his light across the pond and all you see is what appears to be a clump of 4 tangled-up decoys which have drifted up on the bank. Justin thinks to himself, "rookie" then asks Phil, "so how long you been hunting?" Phil responds, "this is my first time."
The picture is starting to "Phil-in" a bit at this point. Phil says, "yeah, I've been watching that show Duck Dynasty and thought I would come out and give out a try." For those of you that don't watch the show, it's about a family in West Monroe, LA that built a fortune making duck calls...and the head of the family is Phil. The irony is pretty funny here. Justin takes the opportunity to impart some pearls of wisdom that he's learned over the past 12 or so years of duck hunting...specifically the generally accepted do's and dont's of setting up decoys and the effective kill range of a 12-gauge shotgun (it's not 75-100 yards from your dekes Phil). A few minutes later all is quiet in the blind and we here Phil say, "I've got my makeup on". I turn to my right and see that Phil has greased up his face like he is Rambo...just like the boys from Duck Dynasty. The rest of the hunters are just in standard face nets. It is, after all, 65 degrees and there are skeeters the size of hummingbirds all around. Justin politely says nothing but secretly is smiling on the inside.
A few more minutes pass and Justin here's a strange sound coming from Phil's direction. It sorta sounded like a gurgling fan. Justin keeps eyes cased on the decoys and then hears Chad say something like, "does that really work" to which Phil replies, "oh yeah!" Justin turns, fully expecting Phil to be hitting a water-bong or something, but as it turns out it was just a smokeless cigarette. Good deal, Phil is trying to kick the habit! Few more minutes pass and it's "finally" legal shooting time. We hit the duck calls for a couple minutes when from behind us, no more than 5 feet above the tree-line, 3 wood ducks buzzed our tower going right between the dekes towards the other side of the pond. We hit the calls and the birds responded by turning around and heading right between the spread...dead straight towards the blind. They were coming so fast that we barely had time to shoot before they were gone.
Chad and Justin shot 5 times and got one of three birds....not a good ratio, but it was a Wood Duck so it was a good start to the season. Chad and Justin turned and looked at Phil who was frozen....he didn't even get the safety off his brand new shotgun! Phil chuckled as he realized these birds move a lot faster in person, but I think he's hooked on duck hunting after that first pass...he was allegedly going to come back that evening and try his luck again...I just hope he learns how to work that safety!
As you can tell... Justin wrote this entry :)
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